


the adventures of mable

by methriver



Category: Better Call Saul (TV), Breaking Bad
Genre: idk how to tag this fam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28106691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methriver/pseuds/methriver
Summary: After years of waiting, Jade finally meets her father, James McGill.
Kudos: 1





	the adventures of mable

**Author's Note:**

> check me out finally uploading something that’s apart of jade’s actual story and not an AU. get ready for me to slam dunk her life story in here. also the writing will get better i promise.

They called New Mexico the land of enchantment, but for what reason Jade didn’t know. In the short time she’d been there, she hadn’t been enchanted in the slightest bit.  
It was way too hot there, there was far too much desert, the days were too long, and that was only a few of the many things she didn’t like about Albuquerque.

Jade felt like Alice when she had fallen down the rabbit hole, in a strange new place, all alone.

She stood mostly silent as her newfound uncle, Chuck, drove her home from school. He says she’s gonna start taking the bus soon.  
Perhaps the weirdest thing about all of it was having to live with people she’d never even knew existed, Chuck and Rebecca were nice, but they didn’t feel like family. Not yet, at least. She wished some of her mom’s family was still around, maybe she would’ve been able to say in Chicago then.

“So,” Chuck cleared his throat, “How was school today? Learn anything good?”

Jade tore her attention away from looking out the car window, watching square buildings move along, tainted amber by the sun, “It was okay.”  
School wasn’t fun anymore, she’d left all of her friends behind in East Saint Louis, and it was hard to make friends with the kids who lived in this strange place. Jade didn’t have much fun these days. Except maybe watching TV, when she could sneak downstairs to do it after they’d gone to bed.

“Just okay?” Chuck asked, making the last turn onto San Cristobal Road. He had been blindsided by Jade — it was just like Jimmy, to drop a kid into his lap like this. He’d never given children much thought, work was always more important.

“We learned some stuff about space, that was cool I guess.” They’d actually learned about space the day before, but she didn’t want Chuck to be too worried, she’d try to save face and deal with it on her own.

“Space… fascinating stuff.” He pulled into the driveway and before Chuck could say anything else, Jade grabbed her backpack and they went inside.

She was still surprised every time she passed through the front door, before then, she had barely even dreamed of living in a house so nice. It was the kind of place her mom had always wanted for them. It made Jade miss her.

Rebecca was sitting at the dining table with some paperwork. She pursed her lips, which were tinted with the same rosy yet understated gloss she always wore, as she looked up to see Jade.

“Hi, honey,” She smiled faintly, putting a pen down, “How was your day?”

Jade shrugged, glancing toward Chuck, “It was good.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear. Why don’t you go ahead and get upstairs and do your homework? We’ll be starting on dinner by the time you're done.” Rebecca as well, hadn’t planned on having a young girl in the house.

“Okay, ” Said Jade quietly, nodding and turning toward the stairs.

As Jade ran up the stairs, Rebecca and Chuck shared a contemplative look.

Jade blew off the homework, and since Chuck and Rebecca hadn’t yet thought to check on that sort of thing, she knew she wouldn’t get in trouble for it. Instead she read a few chapters of goosebumps, and laid around in her room. That was another new thing, having a bedroom all to herself.  
Her bedroom back in East Saint Louis was one that she shared with her mother, when she didn’t fall asleep on the couch. The old house was cramped and tattered, in need of repairs that would never get done. Jade was too young to ever mind.

She went downstairs and assisted Rebecca making dinner, their food was different here too — way fancier.  
They had things like salmon and short rib, once they’d even taken her out to a nice restaurant. As close as she would’ve ever gotten to a place like that before was if her mother had worked there washing dishes or bussing tables.  
Jade did enjoy the cooking, she relished cooking with her mom back at home too, and now that the food was so much more elaborate, the recipes were more complicated. She liked the challenge.

When the three of them would sit around the table, Chuck and Rebecca would usually talk about their work — Chuck his law firm, and Rebecca her music students. Both things Jade didn’t have much of an idea about, but she liked music, so sometimes she would listen to Rebecca. Law however, seemed incredibly boring.  
They’d ask her questions ever so often too, trying to feel her out. How was school? Did she like it? Was she keeping her grades up? And so on and so forth. Usually, their questions didn’t go past scratching the surface, and usually her answers didn’t move past being a sentence long.

The piece of well done salmon in her plate was swished around, but Chuck and Rebecca were lucky Jade wasn’t a picky eater. Usually, she ate whatever was in front of her. She watched them eat, wondering what they might think of her. It had only been two weeks, but they were hard to gauge. It was tough for a kid like Jade, who’d come from a place where she had everything spelled out for her, to figure them out. Whatever they thought, she just hoped they didn’t give her back, thus putting her back into the system. The time she had spent there was just about as long as she’d been with her aunt and uncle, but it was less than desirable.

Rebeccas voice snapped her out of thought, and asked her another question, “So, what’s your favorite school subject?” She smiled softly, trying to seem warm. And maybe she was, but to Jade these two were like aliens. Speaking a different language, their ways of affection couldn’t come across.

“Um…” she thought for a second, cutting the salmon into smaller and smaller bits with her fork. She hadn’t been interested in school much since mom died, and her dwindling grades showed it. “I like math.” She lied through her teeth.

Rebecca nodded, “That’s nice. I’m sure you’re very good at math. You’ll have to show me sometime.”

She quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say. Jade was not too good at math.

She looked down at her plate again, drenching the shredded pieces of fish in the sauce Chuck made, but unable to eat. There was something looming over her head, a thought that had always been there but now, it eclipsed everything else within her brain.  
Jade had asked the social workers about it, but whenever she would, the question would be met with a solemn look, and they’d glide over it as if they hadn’t heard her.  
Dad was alive, she knew that much.  
Never had she asked Chuck or Rebecca, afraid they’d get mad and send her back to the system. She wondered if he looked like Chuck, they were brothers, but he had barely mentioned her father since her arrival. 

Finally, she took a bite of food in an attempt to stop herself from asking, but she couldn’t resist it any longer.  
Her curiosity was a dam about to bust.  
The water within was all thoughts about her dad. Her mother would never talk about him, she’d be irritated if Jade brought him up, and change the subject. Jade wasn’t even completely sure of his name.  
Now, she finally had two people sitting in front of her, who could at least confirm that.

She interrupted them in the middle of talking about something else, Jade knew adults didn’t like being interrupted when they spoke, but she couldn’t help herself, “So, where’s my dad?”


End file.
